R Kelley Farms

This is a u-pick status update to the customers that are planning to come out to the farm this Friday and Saturday to pick crowder beans. The picking of crowder beans is poor for this weekend due to the damage caused by the heat of last week. Many of beans have dried and the next area of crowders will not be ready for approximately 10 days, Saturday September 5th. If you have reservations to pick on these days and would like a refund, email me at [email protected] with... your name and order number and I will issue your reservation refund. Customers that have crowders on order for pick up this Saturday, orders will be filled, but after that, the availability of crowders for orders will be suspended until around the end of next week also. Blackeye and purple hull beans picking is rated fair for this weekend and will increase to excellent for next week. Tomato picking is excellent. We still have watermelons, ambrosia, crenshaw, orange flesh honeydews and creme de la creme melons for sale. Next week will be the last week to place and order for cranberry beans. We will start harvesting our last block of sweet corn next week. The Summer season will come to an end around the last week of September. Ron See more

Heat Stress Labor Law Correction Below are the corrected Heat Illness Prevention laws. Heat Illness Prevention... With temperatures in the Sacramento region weather forecast in the triple digits all next week, we encourage you to share this information with your employees. Please be viligant in reminding employees to access shade, drink water and report any signs of heat illness immediately. Heat Illness Prevention California employers are always required by state law to take the following steps to prevent heat illness for employees working outdoors: 1. Planning: Develop and implement written procedures for complying with the Cal/OSHA Heat Illness Prevention Standard. Written plans need to be in proximity to crews in a language most are comfortable communicating. 2. Water: Provide enough fresh drinking water for each employee to drink 8-ounces of water every 15 minutes and encourage them to do so. 3. Shade: Provide access to shade which can include a vehicle running with a functional air conditioner. 4. Rest: Encourage employees to take a cool-down rest in the shade for at least 5 minutes. They should not wait until they feel sick to cool down. 5. Training: Train all employees and supervisors about the need to hydrate, cool down and rest. Additional measures must be implemented should heat reaches specific temperatures thresholds: Employers must provide shade at the worksite to cover all agricultural employees at any moment. Shade is defined as an area where one cannot cast a shadow. 80F or above: Also, during temperatures of 80F or more, employers are advised to conduct tailgate meetings at the start of work to review with employees the importance of drinking water, heat recovery rest periods and the signs and symptoms of heat illness. 95F or above: High heat procedures include effective communication, observation and monitoring, a mandatory buddy system and regular communication with employees working alone. During a high heat period, agricultural employees must be provided with a minimum 10-minute cool down period every two hours. Additional ten-minute cool-down rest is needed at end of the 8th and 10th hour of work. Heat Illness Prevention in Outdoor Places of Employment, CCR 3395

Greetings Well, we are about halfway through our 2020 summer season and this has been the most challenging of my 28 years of operating R. Kelley Farms. I think you all would agree that COVID-19 has brought about a new way of life than what we were accustomed to. Due to your loyal support and our change in how we market our products, we have been able to remain open thus far. The challenge that we face now is trying to get things harvested during this period of record set...ting high temperatures. For your information, there are agricultural labor laws that govern exposure to heat stress for field laborers that go into effect when temperatures rise above 90 degrees. These laws include allowing additional rest breaks and adjusting work schedules to reduce exposures which equates to less produce being harvested. This coupled with vegetables and fruit maturing at an increased rate, which means a shorter field life, is like a candle burning from both ends. I would hire more pickers but there is not a pool of people waiting to work in the fields! To try to harvest as much as possible before things are cooked by this heat wave, I will open u-pick for the garden area on August 19th. That includes tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, green beans, yellow wax beans, squash, eggplant, sweet corn and okra. I will have sheets with the u- pick prices at the farm and available via email upon request. The garden area is reserved for serious pickers and children over the age of 5 years old only, Wednesday thru Saturday from 6:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. A fee of $1.50 per person will be charge for privilege to enter garden area. Bring your own harvesting tools and containers. The u-pick crowder, purple hull and blackeye beans will remain the same and there are still plenty of beans, but I do not know how long this will last during this heat wave before they start to dry. From the bottom of my heart I genuinely appreciate your patience and understanding as we have endeavored to apply these changes and safety precautions. Ron See more

FLASH If you missed out on getting a box of crowder beans yesterday, I am working around the farm stand today between 8:00 A.M. and 12:00 noon and would gladly sale you some boxes. If you do not see me, just sound your horn and wait a couple of minutes and I will pop my head out. I also have some sweet watermelons available. PICKING CONDITIONS FOR THIS WEEK CROWDER BEANS-----Excellent PINKEYE BEANS (also known as purple hull peas) ----Excellent... BLACKEYE BEANS----Snaps only, they need another week to fill out for shellers. CRANBERRY BEANS----Maybe by the end of the week SPECKLED BUTTER BEANS----Approximately 2 weeks ORDERING AND GETTING YOUR PRODUCE The online store is catching on and more customers are starting to use. Thanks for your patience. By popular demand in store no touch shopping starting this week is expanded to Thursdays and Fridays 8:00 A.M. until 2:00 P.M. Oak Park Farmers Market is going well Saturdays 9:00 A.M. until 1:00 P.M. Keep in mind when I report that picking is Excellent that a few days of hot weather can change things very fast, so do not hesitate to take advantage of these notices. Stay safe and we appreciate you all. Ron

Greetings, The time has arrived to start our u-pick harvesting. We will start with the first block of beans and will open a new block every 10 days to 2 weeks up to a total of 5 blocks. So, beans harvest should last until early October. In order to operate my u-pick business this year, there are guidelines that I must follow. These guidelines are set by California Department of Food and Agriculture and Sacramento County Health Department to lessen the spread of the COVID-1...9 virus. The areas of major concern are, Social Distancing (maintain 6 feet or more between you and the next person), the wearing of face mask or shield when social distancing can not be maintained and sanitizing areas of frequent contact. We at R. Kelley Farms have developed the following practices to achieve these goals. U-pick by reservation: Go to www.rkelleyfarms.com website and select shop. On the left side of screen check U-pick Time Slots. Click the picture of the day and time slot you want to attend. Enter number of people in your party $1 charge per person. Click statement How to get this item click R. Kelley Farms u-pick to confirm date and time slot. Reservation is now complete. Now purchase what you want and container size. Example, for all the field peas select Beans,U-pick Bag, a photo of a red mesh bag. When you select this photo, information opens that lets you know size and cost of filling this container with the products that are listed under description. Keep in mind your time slot and make sure you can fill your containers. It is better to come back another time than to only fill part of what you purchased (No Refunds) Click statement How to get this item and select same date and time as your reservation. ALWAYS SECURE YOUR RESERVATION FIRST PRIOR TO CONTAINER PURCHASE. On the day and time of your reservation, arrive 15 minutes early for check in. Follow the signs to u-pick parking. Bring your receipt to confirm how many people and containers you paid for. If you want to bring a bucket to pick into that is fine, but you will only be able to leave the field with the full container(s) that you purchased. See Beans,BYOB to bring your own 5 gallon bucket to fill with field peas. Be on time you have reserved a time slot for maximum of 90 minutes. We are starting the U-pick harvest with the field peas but will add tomatoes and other items as time goes on. Ron

Answers to some of the questions Hello! I hope everyone celebrated a fun and safe 4th of July. If you haven't already, I suggest that you visit my online store where you can view and purchase the items that are now being offered for sale. ... During this week I will start to harvest more of a selection of sweet melons. The Orange Crisp watermelons late this week or next week for sure. I estimate that I will open u-pick during the week of July 15 th. staring with the garden area and the field peas. I will send u-pick instruction a week ahead of opening up that activity. Cranberry beans late July and tomatoes for canning usually start in August. In store Shopping at R Kelley Farms On Thursdays from 8:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M. you can No Touch Shop. This means that we will have things already packaged for you to select. Only passengers in one vehicle will be allowed into the store at a time. Oak Park Farmers Market We have a booth at the Oak Park Farmers Market on Saturdays from 9:00 A.M. until 1:00 P.M. This is located in McClatchy Park 35th St. and 5 th. Ave. We offer the same items here as we have at the Farm Stand on Thursdays. Online Ordering To order items (1) At www.rkelleyfarms.com click the shop button (2) Proceed to shop and select category and items that you want to view (3) Click on small picture of selected item and a larger picture and full description will popup (4) Add to cart if desired (5) Click How To Get statement to select location, date and time of pick up (6) Continue to shop or proceed to check out. (7) If items are sold out or unavailable check back for, I will replenish inventory as we harvest. (8) It is IMPORTANT that you bring your confirmation notice when you come on your pickup day for fast curbside service You will notice pickup days are Wednesday at the farm and Saturday at the farm and Oak Park Farmers Market ( 35th Street and 5th Avenue in McClatchy Park) . If you have questions, I prefer that you communicate by email. [email protected] Thank You, Ron

Hello! Well, harvest has finally started, and it is time for me to launch my online web store hosted by Barn2Door. First, I would like to thank you for your excitement and patience. Secondly, I will remind you that all my crops do not mature at the same rate. Over the next 3 weeks I will add items to the store inventory as we begin to harvest, and harvest will continue until mid-October. Those of you that want to come out and pick, will still have to wait about 3 more week...s until the beans are ready for picking. The garden area may open sooner but we must take step by step. To order items (1) At www.rkelleyfarms.com click the shop button (2) First time users click Sign Up button top right hand corner (3) Fill out form and create password (4) Proceed to shop and select category and items that you want to view (5) Click on small picture of selected item and a larger picture and full description will popup (6) Add to cart if desired (7) Click How To Get statement to select location, date and time of pick up (8) Continue to shop or proceed to check out. (9) If items are sold out or unavailable check back for, I will replenish inventory as we harvest. (10) It is IMPORTANT that you bring your confirmation notice when you come on your pickup day for fast curbside service You will notice pickup days are Wednesday at the farm and Saturday at the farm and Oak Park Farmers Market where you will be able to also shop on site. I know this is hugely different from the past and I am sure I will have to adjust, but I want to have as safe as possible environment for all concerned. After viewing the online store, if you have questions, I prefer that you communicate by email. [email protected] Thank You, Ron

Hello to All, I hope these greetings finds you and your families safe and doing well. Thanks to all of you that have subscribed to my new e-mail list. By subscribing, it will vastly assist me in keeping you abreast of the changes that I have to make so that you can continue to acquire Fresh and Healthy Produce from R. Kelley Farms. Over the past couple of months, we have been in the process of reorganizing how we will offer our products to the public under threat of COVI...D-19. I am pleased to announce that in collaboration with Barn2Door we will launch the new online store prior to the first of July. Through this online store structure, you will be able to purchase and schedule pick up of all the products that we offer. You will also be able to schedule u-pick day and time reservations. Our objective is to create an environment that will reduce the chance of being exposed to the spread of the COVID virus yet allow the public access to purchase our fresh produce. The next update will contain the necessary instructions to make this transition as safe and painless as possible. Thanks for your patience during this time of change. See yah soon! Ron

Hello!!! We are planning on opening for our summer season around the first week of July. This year the way we operate will be different than in the past, due to the COVID-19 virus. In the near future I will email the new operating procedures. Please go online to my website www.rkelleyfarms.com and on the home page toward the bottom subscribe to my email list, so that you will receive updates and promotions regarding R. Kelley Farms. It just takes entering your name and emai...l address, don’t worry about all of the other information. Please pass this notice on to all of your friends and family. Thanks for your interest in R. Kelley Farms and I look forward to seeing yah soon! Ron

Greetings, It has been a couple of months since my last update and day to day life has changed in many ways. I think all of you know what I'm talking about. It's the effect of COVID-19 on what we use to call normal life. In order to continue to supply "fresh and healthy produce" R Kelley Farms is in the process of making some changes to ensure the safety of our employees and customers. ...Continue reading